Review Summary: Failure at it's finest.
What do you do when things aren't looking up? Do you keep fighting a losing battle? Do you admit defeat and wallow in depression? Drink your sorrows away? How about start a band and write a bunch of songs about it? After listening to
Destination Failure, it's clear what the Smoking Popes did.
Destination failure is an album built around personal shortcoming and failed relationships, using melody focused punk songs as a vehicle for Josh Carter's melancholic, big band jazz inspired vocals. His unusual style shines though on every song, defining the band and giving them a kind of "old timey" feel. And even though it contradicts the more fast paced instrumentation and distorted guitars, it all works well together.
More importantly, it's necessary to make the vulnerable and at times, cheesy lyrics work. They're so over the top sappy that otherwise they would almost certainly grate by the time you got halfway through the album. Lets be honest, most singers couldn't pull of lyrics like this without sounding forced:
"This world is freezing cold
I long for you to hold me in your arms
This world is burning and
I'm waiting for your hand to lead me home"
"And I always Thought I would Die
If you ever told me goodbye
but it wasn't untill tonight
tonight
i found out I was right"
But Carter always manages to somehow come off as genuine and sincere. From the opening track
star struck one, all the way through the beautiful
Megan, to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover and the almost painful
pretty pathetic, he keeps the songs interesting and saves
Destination Failure from being just another punk album.
Songs you should check out:
Megan
